Displaying items by tag: Cementos Pacasmayo

Cemento Yura said it was considering expanding cement and lime production this week. The announcement, made in an interview to business newspaper Gestión, follows a strong second quarter for the subsidiary of Grupo Gloria with clinker production volumes jumping up by 36% year-on-year to 0.51Mt. Overall for the half-year its clinker and cement production rose by 12.8% year-on-year to 0.86Mt and 12.7% to 1.47Mt. The success was attributed to consistent demand from the domestic sector as well as various large-scale mining projects. Julio Cáceres, the commercial director for its Cement, Concrete and Lime Division in Peru, Chile and Bolivia, wouldn’t say where the company was considering heading next, other than that remarking that it was attentive to new markets.

As Cáceres’ job title implies Cemento Yura also operates cement plants outside of Peru. At home it runs one integrated plant in the south of the country near to Arequipa as well as a lime plant at Juliaca. Outside of Peru though it also runs two integrated plants and a grinding unit in Bolivia, via its Sociedad Boliviana de Cemento (SOBOCE) subsidiary, and two integrated plants in Ecuador, via its Union Cementera Nacional (UCEM) subsidiary. The company also has assorted concrete assets. The international aspect to Cemento Yura’s business is interesting given that the larger cement producers in Peru are dominant in different parts of the country with Cementos Pacasmayo in the north, UNACEM (Unión Andina de Cementos) in the centre around Lima and Cemento Yura in the south. Notably, UNACEM also runs a plant in Ecuador and one in Arizona, US. It is also worth mentioning that competition issues have been reported in the local market previously. In mid-2021 Peru’s competition authority, the National Institute of the Defense of Competition and Intellectual Property Protection (INDECOPI), investigated Cemento Yura.

Cemento Yura’s rise in clinker production in the second quarter of 2022 is worth considering because in a previous interview with the local press Humberto Nadal, the chief executive officer of Cementos Pacasmayo, said that importing clinker had become more expensive in 2021. Subsequently, the company started a US$70m upgrade at its Pacasmayo plant to increase its production capacity by 0.6Mt/yr. In its second quarter financial results for 2022 Cementos Pacasmayo directly credited a 27% increase in its earnings on higher operating profits arising from decreasing costs by using less imported clinker. Sure enough data from Association of Cement Producers (ASOCEM) shows that both cement and clinker imports started to fall in October 2021 and have mostly followed a downward trend since then. Clinker imports fell by 41% year-on-year to 0.66Mt from January to August 2022 compared to the same period in 2021.

Graph 1: Cement production in Peru, 2014 – present. Source. Association of Cement Producers (ASOCEM).

Looking at the wider picture in Peru, cement production has stayed fairly consistent since 2014 at around 10Mt/yr. An upward trend probably started in 2019 but then the Covid-19 pandemic cut it off in the first half of 2022 before the market surged back in the second half of that year. 2021 was a good year with production peaking at 12.9Mt. So far the first eight months of 2022 have seen production rise by 5.3% year-on-year to 8.64Mt.

In summary, cement production is rising in Peru, importing clinker appears to have become more expensive for at least one of the producers and some of the larger local companies are investing in new production capacity, considering it or thinking about acquisitions elsewhere. Local clinker producers appear to be in a good place; clinker importers, or those reliant on it, not so much.

Peru: Cementos Pacasmayo recorded consolidated sales of US$140m in the first quarter of 2022, up by 13% year-on-year from US$124m in the first quarter of 2021. Its earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) also rose, by 21% year-on-year to US$128m from US$105m. The company said that its strong revenue generation enabled earnings growth despite cost increases. Its reliance on imported clinker to meet growing demand increased Cementos Pacasmayo’s exposure to the effects of inflation.

During the quarter, Cementos Pacasmayo produced 882,000t of cement across its three facilities, down by 4.4% year-on-year. The plants’ clinker production rose by 6.7% to 568Mt from 532Mt in the first quarter of 2021.

Peru: Cementos Pacasmayo recorded full-year sales of US$519m in 2021, up by 49% year-on-year from US$348m in 2020. Sales exceeded pre-Covid levels of US$373m in 2019 by 39%. The company’s profit for the year was US$41m, more than double its profit of US$15.5m in 2020 and up by 16% from US$35.4m in 2019.

The Semana Económica newspaper has reported that Cementos Pacasmayo aims to maintain its 2021 full-year cement sales volumes in 2022. The company is in the process of a US$70m, 600,000t/yr clinker capacity expansion in order to increase its clinker capacity to 100% of its grinding capacity, from 61% currently. This will eliminate the producer’s reliance on clinker imports.

Peru: FLSmidth has secured a contract for the supply of a new pyro line for Cementos Pacasmayo’s Pacasmayo cement plant near Lima. The new line will give the plant an additional production capacity of 0.6Mt/yr. The supplier says that it plans to install a Cross-Bar cooler, low-NO_x calciner, Jetflex burner, equipment for dosing and feeding and process automation. FLSmidth says that the upgrade will reduce the plant’s energy consumption and open new opportunities for the use of alternative fuel (AF).

FLSmidth’s head of projects and upgrades and senior vice president Anders Josefsen said “We are very excited to work with Cementos Pacasmayo on this project – not only on growing the business, but doing it in a sustainable way. The new line will be equipped with a state-of-the-art pyro system including several of our MissionZero solutions. With this, Pacasmayo makes a significant investment in future-proofing its production.” He added “The Pacasmayo project is a prime example of our capabilities within process design: ensuring the integration to an existing plant, while also demonstrating our ability to deliver equipment that meets demands for energy and fuel efficiency.”

Peru: Cementos Pacasmayo’s sales have revived following a coronavirus-related lockdown in the second quarter in 2020. It attributed the rebound to sales of bagged cement to the self-construction sector and public sector reconstruction demand. It also noted that sales revenue and volumes in the second quarter of 2021 were ahead of comparable figures in the same period in 2019 before the pandemic started. Its sales revenue more than doubled to US$229m in the first half of 2021 from US$105m in the same period in 2020. Its consolidated earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) nearly tripled to US$49.4m from US$16.9m. Production volumes at the cement producer’s plants grew to 1.79Mt from 0.79Mt.

Two fairly serious investments in Peru made the industry headlines this week. The first was Yura’s plans to upgrade its Arequipa cement plant at a cost of US$200m. The project will involve increasing the plant’s clinker production capacity as well as installing a new mill and a 4.3km conveyor. The second was the latest instalment in Cementos Interoceanicos’ long held ambition to build a plant. It has struck a deal with France-based Satarem to build a 1Mt/yr plant near Puno. The deal also includes Satarem buying a 30% stake in Cementos Interoceanicos and plans to construct two lime units as well.

Graph 1: Local cement sales in Peru, January 2020 to February 2021 compared to January 2019 to February 2020. Source: ASOCEM.

These projects follow a squeeze for the local industry due to coronavirus-related containment measures. Data from the Association of Cement Producers (ASOCEM) shows that cement sales collapsed during the lockdown to just 11,000t in April 2020 before recovering in the autumn. Total annual local sales fell by 17% year-on-year to 9.7Mt from 11.6Mt. Sales have also remained high in January and February 2021.

The experience from the larger cement producers mirror the data from ASOCEM. Cementos Pacasmayo’s sales revenue fell by 7% year-on-year to US$354m in 2020 and its earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) fell by 21% to US$86.3m. Unión Andina de Cementos’ (UNACEM) income fell by 14% year-on-year to US$467m in 2020. Despite this, UNACEM managed to sign a deal to buy Cementos La Unión Chile for US$23m in December 2020. The purchase consists of a 0.3Mt/yr cement grinding plant and a 0.34Mm³/yr ready-mix concrete business with multiple concrete plants and trucks. UNACEM described Chile as its main clinker export destination and it holds concrete and precast subsidiaries in the country.

Yura’s general manager Ramón Pizá reportedly called his company’s plans a “vote of faith in Peru.” This is not an understatement considering the market shocks caused by coronavirus in 2020. The country implemented public health measures relatively early during the pandemic but still ended up with one of the worst death rates per capita in Latin America so far. As the British Medical Journal (BMJ) pointed out earlier this month, the timing was right but tragically the application of public health measures has been found wanting. Yet, the fundamentals for the Peruvian cement market are strong. Annual sales mounted from 2017 to 2019, and were showing signs of continuing this in early 2020 before the lockdown shut the market down. This growth pattern has continued so far in 2021.

Peru: Cementos Pacasmayo recorded sales of US$354m in 2020, down by 7% year-on-year from US$381m in 2019. Consolidated earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) fell by 21% to US$86.3m from US$110m. Sales volumes of cement, concrete and precast shipments fell by 1% to 2.58Mt from 2.61Mt. Cement production capacity utilisation was 45%, down by 2% from 47%. In the fourth quarter of 2020 cement dispatches rose by 37% year-on-year.

The company said, “Despite political changes, the economic recovery continued its course during the fourth quarter of 2020. Thanks to the economic relief measures taken by the government and the fast adaptation of the private sector, an important part of the productive capacity was preserved. Public investment in particular has played an important role in the economic recovery, and it is expected to continue to do so during 2021.” It added, “The uncertainty around the end of the Covid-19 pandemic continues, but what is certain is that the world has been forever changed. The capacity to adapt quickly and efficiently in an increasingly digital world is key to success and will prevail long after this pandemic is behind us. We believe that the steps we have taken in that direction have both helped us weather the storm and given us a promising future. We are confident that we are better equipped to face another year that may prove challenging and continue to generate value to our stakeholders.”

The Good Employers Association (ABE) recognised the company in the Leadership category at its ABE Awards 2020.

Peru: Cementos Pacasmayo subsidiary Cementos Selva has begun shipping 2550t/yr of cement produced at its 0.4Mt/yr integrated Rioja, San Matrín plant to the city of Iquitos via the Huallaga, Marañon and Amazon rivers following refurbishment of its Port of Yurimaguas cement terminal. The company said, “The facilities provided by the Port of Yurimaguas with its modern infrastructure and equipment, together with a coordinated logistical operation with the Rioja plant, has made it possible to considerably reduce reception and shipment times, demonstrating that good practices in the jungle are possible,” according to the Diario Gestión newspaper.

Peru: Cementos Pacasmayo recorded a loss of US$13.0m in the six months to the 30 June 2020, compared to a US$9.16m profit in the first half of 2019. The company experienced a 64% drop in sales to US$32.5m from US$91.6m. It said the decline resulted from decreased demand due to the coronavirus lockdown.

Peru: Cementos Pacasmayo has reported a first-quarter profit of US$3.14m in the first quarter of 2020, down by 65% year-on-year from US$7.00m in the same period of 2019. Sales fell by 4.4% year-on-year to US$87.9m, from US$92.0m. Despite having increased by 13% year-on-year in the first two months of 2020, cement, concrete and precast sales volumes fell by 6.0% to US$81.5m from US$86.7m.

Cementos Pacasmayo said that it has suspended all production and sale of its products since 16 March 2020 in response to the national state of emergency due to the coronavirus outbreak. It said, “We are unsure when operations will be allowed to restart.”